Understanding sense of safety and trustworthiness of tourism information among migrant visitors

Abstract

PurposeThe migration-tourism discourse has gained attention in global tourism and mobility among scholars because of the vast contributions of migrant visitors to various sectors of the host country's economy, including the tourism and hospitality industry. However, few studies appear to have been undertaken on the subject matter, particularly within the developing country tourism context. The purpose of this research was to assess and understand migrant visitors' sense of safety among five different nationalities (United Kingdom, USA, Germany, China and India) and their perceptions on trustworthiness of tourism information.Design/methodology/approachAnchored on the national cultural dimension of Hofstede model, this study sampled 306 migrant visitors, with the use of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Games–Howell post-hoc test to examine mean differences of nationalities, with regard to trust of tourism information and sense of safety. Finally, the multiple regression analysis was conducted to establish the significant effects of national culture characteristics and trustworthiness of tourism information on sense of safety of migrant visitors.FindingsThe study finds that there were no significant differences in the sense of safety by the five nationalities. However, national culture characteristics (power distance and uncertainty avoidance) and trustworthiness of tourism information were significant predictors of sense of safety of migrant visitors.Research limitations/implicationsThis research adopted only two cultural dimensions of the Hofstede's model, so future studies within the migration-tourism literature should consider adopting other cultural dimensions of the model.Practical implicationsThe research provides, first, insight into sense of safety, trustworthiness of tourism information and national culture characteristics which are relevant for destination marketers, the ministry of tourism and local tourism officials to promote safety tourism.Originality/valueThe study expands the application of the cultural dimension of Hofstede model within the migration-tourism literature and establishes that national cultural characteristics and trustworthiness of tourism information are significant predictors of sense of safety of migrant visitors.

The impact of halal tourism on Muslim diaspora intention to recommend: an application of the theory of planned behaviour

“…Although the Global Muslim Travel Index (2021) recognised Ghana as part of the Muslim diasporic tourist destination, the source did not provide the total number of Ghanaian Muslim diasporic tourists. Based on this information, the study took a cue from previous halal and diaspora studies in Ghana, including Preko et al (2021), Mohammed et al (2021b), and Preko and Gyepi-Garbrah (2021). Based on this research, the authors estimated a sample size of 500.…”

“…Further, this study develops two new constructs, namely trustworthiness of halal information, and halal safety and security, which are regarded as new dimensions within the halal tourism literature from a Muslim diasporic tourists' perspective. These constructs are regarded as important drivers of tourists' intention to recommend a place, which has a considerable effect on the traveller's behaviour (Abbasi et al , 2021; Preko and Gyepi-Garbrah, 2021; Preko et al , 2021). The TPB theory is justified in halal tourism as it offers better insight into explaining attitudinal and behavioural factors that influence a particular conduct (Suid et al , 2017; Ulfy et al , 2021), than in other types of tourism.…”

Safety and Security Assessment of Tourist Destinations: A Field Study in a Nigerian Geopark

“…Nonetheless, geoparks may also be an unsafe place (Chen, et al, 2021), and for this reason, people may avoid visiting them despite their numerous benefits. Safety and security in geoparks are complex, covering wide-ranging components from public safety to getting accurate information (Kovari & Zimanyi, 2011;Zarezadeh, et al, 2018;Trogisch & Fletcher, 2020;Preko, 2021;Preko & Gyepi-Garbrah, 2021). Some scholars (e.g.…”

Indian diaspora in Ghana: cultural and family heritage of tourists' travel preference

“…Extant tourism literature has considered numerous outcomes such as satisfaction and loyalty (Feng et al , 2020; Mathew, 2021; Preko et al , 2020b), intention to revisit (Mohammed et al , 2021) and activity participation patterns (Kang and Lee, 2021). In diaspora tourism, previous studies have examined aspects that deal with attachment to home country (Huang et al , 2013); engagement in social capital building (Li, 2020), experiences and acculturation (Ferrari et al , 2021; Preko and Gyepi-Garbrah, 2021), transnational leisure and contemporary migrants (Huang and Chen, 2020), while neglecting the issue of preference to travel. Additionally, Huang et al (2018) argued that further research could look at tourist preference as a factor or an outcome to diaspora tourism as it might respond to other variables to explain diaspora tourism, making the concept worthy of research.…”